If You Come Softly

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

“If they have it in them, to not like somebody because of their color—then I might have it in me.”

… “I get scared of that too,” he said. “About myself. That’s there someplace, ready to spring out—‘cause sometimes—like remember that time those two old ladies on Fifth Avenue?...Times like that, I hate white people. Then I have to ask myself, How can I hate white people and love you?” He smiled. “And I don’t know how to answer that.” (164).

Ellie; white, Jewish Ellie whose mom has abandoned her and her family before, whose home feels increasingly quiet and empty, whose family feels increasingly close-minded. Miah; black, basketball-playing Miah whose mom is a famous novelist, whose dad is a famous film director, whose parents are divorced. These are the two forces at the heart of If You Come Softly, and they meet in the unromantic halls of Percy, an expensive Manhattan private school. What begins with literally bumping into one another in the hall transforms into an inexorable connection and powerful romance between the two—though what’s seen of this romance is never graphic or risqué: Ellie and Miah kiss, do homework, discuss race, and imagine their futures together. Heartbreakingly, this future ends up nothing but a “big blank space” (166), in this subtle, modern reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Written twenty years ago, the novel aches with relevance today. While this moving tale about race, loss, the transcendent power of love, and the importance of living, might wrap up a little too quickly for adult readers, it’s perfectly suited for the its young adult audience. Subjects this book includes that some readers may be sensitive to (but which others may be thrilled to find sensitively discussed in their literature: death, abandonment (albeit temporary) of a child by a parent.

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